Meant To Be
by WhimsicalWanderer
Summary: This is a story I came up with during a play through of Rune Factory 4. It chronicles the development and progress of Frey and Dylas' relationship from first meeting, to marriage, to family life. I have used some events in the game but have also come up with and improvised moments I thought would have been sweet, fitting and appropriate for their relationship. I hope you enjoy it!
1. Chapter 1

I own no rights to Dylas, Frey or Rune Factory etc.

This is a story I came up with during my playthroughs of Rune Factory 4. I am a huge Dylas fan, and this story chronicles the relationship between Frey and Dylas is it progresses and develops from their first meeting to times after their marriage with their family.I've based some parts of this story of events in the game and improvised and come up with others to improve the story. I hope it's not too terrible! It is rather long so more chapters are to follow if they are wanted! Enjoy!

Meant to be.

Chapter 1:

After one week in Selphia, Frey had decided, this town was… odd… something strange was happening. Amber, the young girl she had just brought to town had been a butterfly monster, but, upon her defeat transformed into the tiny, lovable girl now residing with Illuminata. The dragon seemed to sense something incredible in Frey, though she wouldn't disclose exactly what that was. And that odd growling sound she'd heard the last few nights, she still couldn't explain that… she thought Venti was maybe the cause, growling in her sleep, but, who knew.

In light of this, she still adored the town, the villagers were all so kind and accepting of a complete stranger who had just fallen from the sky one, they even admired and listened to her! She still didn't quite grasp that bit.

She was happy despite remembering nothing if her past, she however, had a sense that maybe the past wasn't so important, she was thoroughly enjoying her time in the present.

Her train of thought was interrupted by a sound that beginning to become normal.

"Frey! Frey!" it was Kiel in a hurried excitement dashing toward her. His eyes were alight with yet another delightful secret he intended, quite clearly, to share with her.

"Yes Kiel?"

Panting and out of breath he asked "Have… You heard them?"

"Heard what?" She asked, wondering what his rumor mill had conjured up this time, in the short time she'd known him, he'd been sure to enlighten her on everyone's secrets as well as on all of the local rumors and gossip.

His breath regained he spoke more clearly "The demon voices of course! I heard them myself last night and I've heard others around town saying they heard them too! There's going to be a meeting in the castle I think. Everyone wants to know what they are and they thought Venti could help!"

So she wasn't the only one hearing them after all… She must have looked distracted because Kiel once again interrupted her mid-thought

"Frey? Have you heard them, the voices? Will you be at the meeting? I can't go, Forte won't let me, maybe you could tell me something you hear?" his questions all came out in a rushed breath of excitement at the chance off some demon monstrosity outside of the town. She could only imagine what his mind had conjured up.

"Uhm, yeah, I probably better go to the meeting I guess" She tried to keep her voice calm and level to attempt to lower Kiel's excitement. She looked up to see his reaction but Kiel was already darting off to inform Xia Pai of the news, and, knowing Kiel, the story would grow even more interesting by the time he made it up to the bath house.

She was happy to hear others had experienced this noise though, so she cheerfully made her way up past Bado's to the town center. Kiel was right, there was a meeting, she watched as villagers shuffled in, murmuring about rumors and concerns about the source of this strange voice. She nudged her way in, gently scooting around Blossom and nodding toward Arthur as she made her way up toward Venti. Soon everyone was discussing the causes they thought most sat calmly, taking in everyone's statements. As excitement began to die down, Frey was addressed by Blossom "Frey dear, have you heard the voices?" her old voice was riddled with concern.

"In fact, I have… But I thought, maybe, it's Venti howling in her sleep?" she muttered.

The villagers all looked taken aback, she was unsure of what she had said that was so odd.

"Maybe, but I don't really see that being the case, but either way you have heard them too so that's something." Arthur stated in his usual, calm tone.

"I am certain a solution can be found to these voices" Venti addressed them in the formal tone Frey was so unused to hearing "In the meantime, the village will be safe, so I recommend everyone return to their usual routines"

The villagers, as always, did as Venti requested and shuffled back out, though murmurs about the voices were still being passed about as they left.

When all had left, Venti turned her sights on Frey, "How dare you address me as such in front of the townspeople!"

Frey was stunned, what had she done? "D… Did I do something wrong?"

"Venti?! Really? You use my nickname in front of them? AND you accuse me of snoring _so _loudly the village all thinks I'm some demon creature in the night!" her scold soon gave way to smile… "You're lucky I like you Frey" she said.

"I know" Frey said with a smile "But if it wasn't you, what was the noise?"

Venti stopped suddenly, looking unsure, she didn't know what to reveal to the princess just yet, too much and she may frighten her away before the task was completed… before it was too late. "It was…" she began nervously. "A creature, in the Water Ruins, can I ask you to defeat this monster for me?"

"Of course you can" Frey said confidently, she loved the faith this God had in her.

"Alright, the Water Ruins are south east of the village, if I recall, there are trees in the way but I'm certain Volkanon will have no trouble removing these for you… Be careful please"

"I will, maybe Forte will help me out if it gets too tough to handle on my own" Frey was confident in her ability but having a friend around may help her if this creature was as dangerous as Venti was acting. She'd have to find Forte and ask for her company.

Frey made her way out of the castle, luckily she spotted Forte standing guard by the town gates, she made her way over and explained the situation to Forte before asking for her help.

"I would be honored" Forte said with a bow. She equipped her sword and followed Frey out of the gates.

As Venti had said, Volkanon was already there, clearing the trees from the path. Once they were gone, Frey and Forte made their way toward the Water Ruins.

"This… should be the right way… Southeast you said?" Forte was trying to locate the path. "Looks like no one has been out here in years!" She said as she blazened her sword and cut down a thick swath of brush.

"It should be somewhere around here or at least-" her thought was cut off by the cry they had all been hearing, though, this close, it sounded much more like the whinny of a horse.

"Follow the sound!" Forted shouted, her metal armor clanked and jangled as she galloped ahead, slicing down every tree in her way. Frey ran to keep up with her, and soon the crumbling stone facade of the ruins came into view, a goblin was also clearly pacing just inside.

"Looks like this is the place…" Frey said as she approached slowly, she was once again answered by the whinny as if on cue. The pair headed into the ruins, with both fighting off whatever monsters attempted to attack. Across a stretch of water, Frey noticed a cavernous like opening.

"Forte, look! I bet that's where the creature is! But… how do we get to it…" Frey pondered. Something on a nearby ledge caught her eye, a lever! "No wait, I bet that's it, I bet we have to pull that to activate some switch or platform or something!"

"Right, I'll fight off the monsters so you can get safely to that lever, I'll follow you into that cave afterwards"

They did as planned, and soon the loud grinding of stone sliding across stone rumbled and echoed through the ruins. A platform-like bridge was soon in place spanning the water and making the cave accessible. The sound had frightened off most of the monsters, Frey and Forte took this momentary cease in action to dart into the cave.

It was surprisingly light inside, a blue river surrounded a large stone platform, the pair walked up and saw the source of the "demon cries". A massive black horse stood in the center, he pawed at the ground, tossed his head back and let out a loud whinny then quickly charged Frey.

Forte tried to jump between the horse and Frey but was thrown hard to the ground, she lay still and injured. "Frey, you have to beat the monster!" She shouted.

Frey knew this was true and she began relentlessly attacking. The horse kept bucking and charging her. He shot lightning from his body and targeted her, she dodged most of his attacks, taking a few hits, at one point falling to the ground. The horse reared up over her, his large hoofs loomed threateningly over her head, she managed to roll away just in time to keep from being crushed, The stamp of hooves on stone began to quicken, the horse was growing tired, but he was panicking, going berzerk, shooting lightning faster now, his charges were more frequent. Frey could see he was tiring and decided she needed to try to squeeze in as many fast paced attacks as she could, for she too was growing tired. The horse had momentarily paused his attacks, his breathing was fast and hard, he was exhausted and so close to losing this fight, Frey saw her chance and attacked once from behind. The horse fell t the ground.

Immediately Frey knew something was different, for the same intensely bright light that had appeared after defeating Amber's monster form once again drowned and filled the entire cave, it once again quickly dissipated and in the horse's place lay a tall unconscious man.

"Forte, look… It's a man this time…" Frey said in an amazed tone.

"We have to get him back into town. Jones has to see him, he needs help." Forte strained to speak, she was badly hurt as well and Frey noticed.

"Yes, and so do you, do you think you can walk?"

Forte nodded, trying to look stronger than she had be feeling.

" I'll carry the man" Frey said, "stay close behind me and tell me if you need help ."

Frey got to work attempting to lift the man. She slumped him over her shoulders and began to drag his limp, muscular frame along with her. It was a difficult task indeed, he was at least two feet taller than her. His legs drug the ground behind him, she hoped it wouldn't hurt him too badly. Forte limped along slowly behind them, putting on a tough facade as always, but Frey knew she had to be in pain, she had taken a pretty hard hit to protect her. At this thought she was once again reminded how much she genuinely loved everyone in this town, they'd do anything for anyone.

The trip felt as if it had taken ages, though in all actuality, dragging the man along as well as keeping a slow enough pace for Forte to maintain had slowed them down quite a bit. Though it had been a tedious journey, the village walls were now in view. Frey breathed out a heavy sigh of relief, as she once again shifted the man's weight on her back to ease the burden. She trudged forward, determined to get the man to Jones before she suffered permanent spinal damage. She looked back to check on Forte, who was still valiantly prodded along despite her battered state.

They crossed the threshold into the village slowly and made their way down to Jones' office. Nancy quickly examined Forte and deemed her fine, save some rather deep bruises. Jones was quick at work lifting the man from Frey's back and laying him down on the bed furthest from the door. Jones looked the man over as best he could, given that he was currently unconscious.

"He was a monster you say?" Jones questioned

"Yes, the one causing the demon voices we'd been hearing, but, just like with Amber, after I beat the monster, he transformed back into this man."

"I see, it's odd really, I've never heard of anything like this before but…" his sentence trailed off as he began to mumble to himself about what could medically be causing such an odd condition.

"So, do you think he'll be ok?" Frey's voice was stained with concern.

"I certainly think he will, after a few days of rest. I'll let you know if there are any changes in his condition"

"Thank you Jones" Frey turned her sights to Forte, "And thank you Forte, I didn't mean to get you hurt!"

"It's fine, I have to protect the town after all" she managed a smile before turning and heading for the door, she had to get back to Kiel.

Frey cast her glance down to the sleeping man, she wondered who he was, why he was there in the Water Ruins, she wondered when he'd wake up so she could ask him her questions. For now, she could do nothing more than go back to the castle and wait for him to come to.

She walked out of Jones' office and up toward the castle. She decided she had better tell Venti about this, two people turning into monsters after battle couldn't be a coincidence. Maybe Venti would know what was going on.

"Venti" Frey called as she stepped into the castle, "I need to talk to you"

"What do you want!" Venti snorted playfully.

"Venti, I… I found another person. It was like Amber, it… I mean her, the monster that was the cause of the demon voices, he was a monster, a huge horse monster. After I beat him in a battle, he turned into a man. He's in Jones' care now, but I don't understand, monsters turning into people, and why was he in the Water Ruins." She hadn't meant to ramble but when she started talking, all of her thoughts came spewing out. Venti looked a bit taken aback, she seemed to be pondering which of Frey's concerns to address first. To Frey's surprise Venti responded only with:

"It is odd, I'll think on it and talk to you again another time alright?"

Frey was in shock, she was genuinely concerned and her friend wouldn't even help her. She nodded in agreement and sulked off to her room. Vishnal had already turned her blankets down for her. Frey jotted down her thoughts in her diary, she'd been doing that a lot lately, then crawled into bed. She let her frustration dissipate and quickly fell into deep sleep, it had been an exhausting day...strangely that night, she dreamt of the man she'd found.

At six as usual the next day, the same as always, Vishnal had awoken her right on time.

"Goodmorning princess! Will you check on the injured man this morning?" He asked with a smile, Vishnal had a delightful way of making waking up so early more bearable.

Frey, still half asleep, grumbled in a low tone before processing Vishnal's question. "Mmm yeah, I…. I am going to" her sentence interrupted by a long yawn "check on him today. Wait… How do you know about the man? We didn't get back last night until late at night, most everyone was already in their homes for the night?"

"A butler needs to know everything about his master of course, including who she rescues!" he chuckled lightly "And of course Kiel spotted you carrying in the man and he later had Forte recount the tale to him, and with Kiel knowing it wasn't long before we all knew! It was so brave of you Princess to help him like that, I hope he's well." Vishnal was already back to tidying up her room for her before he had even finished explaining. "Well, I'll leave you to ready yourself for the day, I'll see you later Princess." He walked outside quickly as he always did to give her time to dress.

After she was ready for the day she began to think about the man, she really did need to check on him. For some reason he was really occupying her thoughts, yet she had never even heard him speak, she had even dreamt of him, though she didn't know why. She felt silly for thinking of a complete stranger so much. She began to head toward Jones's office, as she approached, she noticed Nancy standing outside.

"Oh hello Frey" Nancy said with her always pleasant smile "Are you here to check on our mystery man?"

Frey smiled back and said "Yes, I just wanted to make sure he was doing alright"

"Well, I'll go check on him for you!" Nancy turned and walked inside the office.

Only a moment had passed before the door flung back open and a panicked Nancy came bursting out. "Frey! He's not there he's gone!"


	2. Chapter 2

Meant To Be: Chapter 2

"Frey! Where could he have gone, we have got to find him, he is in no shape to be walking around, he'll get hurt more than he already is!" Nancy was in hysterics

"It's going to be alright Nancy, like you said he's in bad shape, really, he couldn't have gotten far, I'll find him, don't worry!" Frey smiled and headed off to look for the man, he was in bad shape the last time she'd seen him so she really didn't think he'd gotten far, but she was still worried about him. She ran toward to the castle, she thought perhaps he'd headed back toward the town gate. Maybe he'd tried to get back to the Water Ruins, she certainly hoped not, he wouldn't make it through the forest in his condition. As she got to the top of the stairs in front of the castle, she once again was blinded by a brilliant white light, this time it was coming from the main room in the castle, from Venti's room. As badly as she wanted to find the man, she had to see what was going on. Frey immediately turned and ran for the castle.

Frey galloped into the main room but was immediately stopped in her tracks, for there, laying in the castle floor in front of Venti was the man, still asleep.

"Venti? Why… Why is he here?" Frey was confused and was still puzzled by the light but as of now her focus had been held by the man.

"Oh him? Why? Are you looking for him?" Venti sounded almost overly nonchalant.

"Erm, yes, you see, he's injured, pretty badly and he was being cared for by Jones and Nancy but… he disappeared this morning from their care… Why is he here?"

"So he's an escapee huh? Well, you had better get him back to Jones and Nancy then." Frey noticed that Venti had completely ignored her question about why he was in the castle in the first place, she saw this as an opportunity to ask about the light.

"Venti, why was this room shimmering?"

"What when?" Venti quickly asked.

"Just a minute ago, the whole room, it was shining, I could see it from outside."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Venti stated, her tone suggested the topic was no longer up for debate.

"Well, I guess I'll just get him back to Jones then…" Frey was baffled by Venti's sudden denial of everything. She picked the man up for the second time now, draped his body over her back and headed back toward Jones' office.

"Thank you so much Frey!" Nancy said cheerfully. "I wonder what he was doing in the castle, oh well, I suppose that's not really important, I'll be certain to keep a much better eye on him this time around!"

"I hope he gets well soon" Frey said, her eyes still locked on the man.

"I'm certain he will, we'll let you know if he wakes up but I think it'll probably still be a few days before he comes to" Nancy patted Frey's shoulder "But you should probably go home and rest up a bit, you've really been overworking yourself the last few days, and of course I didn't help by making you carry him back here!"

"Thanks Nancy, I appreciate your concern" Frey smiled and began to exit. As she stepped out on to the street, she made a conscious decision to not go back by Venti today, as much as it bothered her to be mad at Venti, she was more bothered by how much Venti was hiding from her. She turned up toward the bath house, maybe a nice soak would calm her nerves.

As she entered the Bell Inn, she was greeted warmly by Xiao Pai and Lin Fa, the two were always so kind to her.

"Frey! How is the man? He is well yes?" Xiao Pai asked in her strange accent.

"Xiao, don't hound her with questions my silly girl" Lin Fa kindly corrected.

"No, no it's fine, yes Xiao, he is doing fine, well I think anyway."

"I am glad yes, he is already a member of our town. I love having new members come to town"

"And you have a strange gift for bringing all of these lovely new faces to our town!" Lin Fa interjected.

Frey smiled, she decided not to have a soak after all, a nice walk would clear her mind. As she walked around town, everyone was abuzz with news of the new man, everyone seemed to be excitedly waiting for him to wake up, a new face would be welcome.

She headed home that evening still thinking of the man, the mysteries surround him and Amber, and the strange lights she kept seeing, not to mention Venti's strange behavior. Her mind was racing, this was certainly one for the diary. She fell asleep that night still disgruntled, surely she'd get no rest this way.

As dawn broke the next morning, Vishnal once again was laying out Frey's outfit and waking her up. "Princess! Shall you check on the man today? Perhaps he has woken up?"

Frey was well awake this morning, she'd hardly even slept "Yes, I think that's my first stop of the morning!" She wondered why she was so excited at the possibility of hearing him speak to her.

Vishnal left her alone and she readied for her day. She bounded out of the door, she felt happy today, she felt he'd be up for sure, though she didn't know why. The walk to Jones' felt painstakingly long when she was so excited to get there. It was rather early but she was almost certain Jones and Nancy would be awake. She knocked on the door, a cheerful voice called out from the other side "Come in!" she recognized the voice as Nancy's. Frey quickly opened the door, she was so excited to finally see this man awake, to hear his voice. She shook these thoughts from her head quickly. What business did she have thinking so profoundly about this stranger? Her thoughts weren't gone for long though, she caught sight of him as soon as she stepped over the threshold.

He was so tall, even taller than he'd looked lying down. His lanky frame didn't occupy much physical space, but he had an aura about him that seemed to fill the entire room. She focused on every detail of him. His attire was strange. His suit was black, adorned with a red chest, framed down his arms in blue. Black ribbons tied in bows crossed diagonally over the red of his chest and silver metal rings, buckles and clasps hung on his chest, arms and legs. His white and grey hair hung midway down his back. His smooth, pale skin was marred by a single, though large, scar on his left cheek. She wondered what had left it. He had full, pale pink lips that seemed permanently stuck in a grimace, no smile played at the corners of his well defined mouth. His honey, golden eyes, framed by thick white brows, held her gaze.

He was so handsome. Frey had to say something, she feared she'd been staring at him with her mouth agape for far too long.

"How" she stammered, his look was so fierce, it made her nervous "How are you feeling?"

He grumbled "...I'm fine, more or less." he quickly went back to focusing on Frey "And, who are you?" he asked gruffly.

"This is the one who saved you!" Nancy jumped in quickly.

He paused and looked at Frey again.

"I'm Frey" she offered with a delicate smile. She noticed how deep his voice was as he spoke, she admired each gravely undertone of it. It was rough but all the while, soothing.

"...Dylas" he muttered softly under his breath.

"...Um, I'd like to ask you something" Frey nervously asked "Why _were_ you in the Water Ruins?"

"It's none of your business" his tone was harsh but he never broke eye contact with her. They stood almost toe to toe, an evenly matched pair.

Nancy broke the moment of tension "... Hey, Dylas. Frey saved you. You know that, right?" So how about dialing down the foul attitude a bit, hmm?... Sound good?"

He seemed slightly shocked that she spoke to him like that. His face softened slightly, he no longer held such a fierce expression "...I don't know why I was there." Frey thought she could hear a hint of pain his voice.

"You lost your memory too?" Frey asked, she related to him in this aspect.

"...Yeah" he said solemnly "Can I go now?" he asked as he turned to Jones and Nancy.

"Physically, you are fine, but I'm still concerned about…" Nancy sentence was broken off by Dylas.

"Thank you for taking care of me" He walked out of the clinic quickly.

"He's gone…" Frey said, her voice tinged with sorrow, she had wanted to know so much more about him.

"He's not one to mess around with niceties, now, is he? Definitely lives life at his own pace." Nancy was cleaning what was once his bed as she mused to Frey.

"Nancy, Jones… Thank you very much."

"You're very welcome." Nancy said with her usual loving smile.

"I didn't do anything special… just my job" Jones said briskly before grinning at Frey.

"Dylas... What's he going to do from here on out?" Frey muttered so quietly she was sure only she could hear it.

Suddenly from somewhere outside she heard Dylas yell "Wh-what are you…?!"

Frey heard the all-too-distinguishable trilling of Porcoline as he said "Oh my! You finally woke up! Wonderful to meet you. I'm called Porcoline. Just… Porcoline is fine. There's more, but… meh! You may feel free to call me by that name."

Dylas stammered. He sounded rather flustered by the odd man "...O-Okay… Well… bye!"

"... Hmm? And just what are you going to do with yourself from now on?"

"Don't see how that's any of your business." Dylas' voice once again curt and stand-offish.

"You have nowhere to go, do you?"  
>"That's none of your conce-"<p>

"Then you'll come live at my place!"

"...What?"

"Fortunately for you, I just so happen to have a spare room. Besides, you're fresh out of an extended clinic stay! You're in no condition to wander about. If you plan to leave town, that's fine! But, what difference does it make if it's now or later?"  
>"... But… I can't just freeload..."<p>

"Then how about you work for me during your stay?"  
>"Work for you?"<p>

"I run a restaurant here. And, I can hire you as a waiter! When you eventually go off on your aimless voyage, you'll still need money, after all… no? If you stay in my house for a while and don't like it, you can leave anytime. What do you think? Sounds stupendous, doesn't it?"

Dylas hesitated "... Okay. I guess I'll stay with you then."

"WONDERFUL!" Porcoline shouted almost triumphantly.

"I'm Dylas, thank you… Porcoline."

Frey smiled contentedly to herself "Seems he'll do just fine."


End file.
